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Clinical Trial
. 2015:2015:271842.
doi: 10.1155/2015/271842. Epub 2015 Jul 12.

The Effect of Latent Toxoplasma gondii Infection on the Immune Response in HIV-Infected Patients

Ondrej Beran  1 , Petr Kodym  2 , Marek Maly  3 , Alzbeta Davidova  1 , Gabriela Reinvartova  4 , David Jilich  4 , Michal Holub  1 , Hanus Rozsypal  1
Affiliations
Clinical Trial

The Effect of Latent Toxoplasma gondii Infection on the Immune Response in HIV-Infected Patients

Ondrej Beran et al. Biomed Res Int. 2015.

Abstract

A relationship between latent toxoplasmosis and the immune system during HIV disease is poorly understood. Therefore, the aim of this follow-up study was to characterize immunological parameters in HIV-infected patients with latent toxoplasmosis and noninfected individuals. A total of 101 HIV-infected patients were enrolled in the study. The patients were classified into two groups based on anti-Toxoplasma gondii antibodies: a group of 55 toxoplasma-positive persons (TP) and a group of 46 toxoplasma-negative persons (TN). Absolute counts of several lymphocyte subsets decreased in the TP group, namely, T cells (p = 0.007), B cells (p = 0.002), NK cells (p = 0.009), CD4 T cells (p = 0.028), and CD8 T cells (p = 0.004). On the other hand, the percentage of CD8 T cells expressing CD38 and HLA-DR significantly increased during the follow-up in the TP group (p = 0.003, p = 0.042, resp.) as well as the intensity of CD38 and HLA-DR expression (MFI) on CD8 T cells (p = 0.001, p = 0.057, resp.). In the TN group, analysis of the kinetics of immunological parameters revealed no significant changes over time. In conclusion, the results suggest that latent T. gondii infection modulates the immune response during HIV infection.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The kinetics of absolute counts of T cells (a), B cells (b), CD4 T cells (c), CD8 T cells (d), and NK cells (e) in toxoplasma-negative and toxoplasma-positive patients during the study. The results document the decrease of all lymphocytes subsets in the toxoplasma-positive group. Data in box plots are expressed as medians and interquartile range.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The kinetics of percentage of CD38+ and HLA-DR+ CD8 T cells (a, b) and mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) of CD38 and HLA-DR on CD8 T cells (c, d) in toxoplasma-negative and toxoplasma-positive patients over the study. CD8 T cells are gated as CD3+/CD8+ cells. p values denote significant differences in the toxoplasma-positive group. Data in box plots are expressed as medians and interquartile range.
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